


A Very Nice Day

by pommedeplume



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Community: rs_games, Fluff, M/M, R/S Games 2016, Romance, Time Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2016-10-20
Packaged: 2018-08-22 20:13:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8299294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pommedeplume/pseuds/pommedeplume
Summary: Remus Lupin discovers a mysterious bottle in his attic that his husband, Sirius Black, believes may contain bottled time.If you could spend eternity with the one you love, would you?Inspired by "Time in a Bottle" by Jim Croce.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my beta h_d!

The trunk flew open, sending dust flying everywhere. Remus coughed, swatting at the air with a hand. The dust settled and he stared down at the contents of the trunk. Below him were an assortment of old spoons and plates. Sirius was right. It really was just a bunch of junk, none of it likely to be usable or valuable. The only sort of interesting item was an empty wine bottle that had a most curious pattern of what appeared to be a sundial on it.

"What's this?" Remus called out.

"Hmm?" Sirius said, then climbed up the stairs to the attic and walked over to the trunk.

Remus brushed honey-brown hair from his eyes and lifted the bottle up to Sirius.

"Oh. That's just an old family thing. An heirloom," Sirius said.

"That design is something else. I've never seen it before," Remus said, standing up.

Sirius took the bottle from Remus and looked at it more closely.

"When I say it was an heirloom that's not entirely true. I'm pretty sure my grandfather stole it from someone else. He passed it on to my mother and I stole it from her. Not that I believe the stories about it," Sirius said, handing it back to Remus.

"The stories?" Remus said as Sirius strolled back down the stairs, Remus following after him.

"Oh, it's nothing. Load of rubbish," Sirius said dismissively.

Remus set the bottle down on their granite kitchen countertop and gave Sirius a pointed glare that would let him know he wasn't going to get away with not explaining further. Sirius pushed his hands into the pockets of his trousers and sighed.

"It's daft, really," Sirius said.

"I'll be the judge of that," Remus said.

Sirius sighed and sat down on a stool at the bar that surrounded their kitchen. Remus went over to the refrigerator and pulled out a couple of cold beers, setting one of them in front of Sirius. They both opened their cans and took sips. Sirius looked over at the bottle and shook his head.

"It's ridiculous," Sirius said.

"Have I ever told you how much I love it when you tell me stories?" Remus said.

Sirius groaned and shook his head, his pony tail bouncing back and forth in that cute way it always did.

"I never have been able to say no to you. Even after all these years… OK. Fine. So the story, at least as I was told it, was that long ago some bloke was in love with some girl or whatever and she was dying. He was a glass blower by profession. He made bottles for wine or liquor. Whatever, you know," Sirius said then took another drink of his beer.

"With desperation he searched for something… some way of saving her life. So he made that bottle over there. He found some way of filling it with… time," Sirius said, cringing with the last word.

"Time?" Remus said.

"Yes. Time. See, I told you it was ridiculous. But anyhow, this is where it gets sad… You see, he was too late. He only had enough time for a final week. One final week with his beloved, given moments before her death. To everyone around them everything was normal. But for them it was different. A week passed for them. One more week to say goodbye or whatever else it was they had to say to each other."

Remus took a big sip of his beer then sat down on the stool next to Sirius.

"That's both touching and sad," Remus said.

"Indeed it is. Now you see, for the man, he no longer had any use for the bottle. He vowed that he would never love again. So he put the cork in it and tossed it into the sea. Eventually it washed up on a distant shore and it got passed around. Someone finally figured out that the bottle was the same one from the man's story, or at least that's the story they tell when they sell it to people," Sirius said.

"So there's time in that bottle? Like… actual time?" Remus asked.

Sirius shook his hands in denial.

"Of course not. You can't bottle time. What does that even mean, bottling time? If you put time in a bottle does someone else lose time?"

Sirius scoffed and drank more of his beer.

"How much time do you imagine is in there now? If he was able to bottle a week's worth right after making it… if no one has ever opened it…" Remus said, looking over at the bottle intently.

"My grandfather certainly claimed it had never been opened. People are afraid to. Afraid it might be true. Even more afraid that it might not be," Sirius said.

"Shall we open it?" Remus said, turning back to Sirius with a grin.

"It's an antique!" Sirius said.

"Are you afraid?" Remus said.

"No, of course not, because it's not true!" Sirius replied, rolling his eyes.

"It's not like taking the cork out will damage it. I'll be gentle. You can't tell me you aren't a little curious," Remus said.

Sirius stared at Remus, a small smile on his thin lips, his grey eyes wide.

"OK. Fair enough. I'm curious. But it's _not_ true. It _can't_ be. It defies all logic and reason!" Sirius said.

"You defy all logic and reason with your very existence and yet here you sit!" Remus said, leaning over and giving Sirius a peck on the cheek, which made them both laugh.

"I just… don't think we should," Sirius said.

"Afraid we'll be stuck together for all of eternity?" Remus said.

Sirius gasped and turned away. Remus was almost certain he was trembling. This really was bothering him.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have joked about it. I'll just go put it back up in the attic," Remus said, not wishing to cause his husband any more distress.

"No. It's fine. I'm not afraid we'll be stuck together. I'm afraid… Best case scenario, it isn't true and the mystery goes away."

"Worst case?" Remus asked.

Sirius turned back towards Remus and Remus could see that his eyes were wet with tears.

"Worst case… it's true and you're stuck with me for… who knows how long," Sirius said.

"Why is that a bad thing?" Remus countered.

"You'll hate me with time. I know you will. I'm no good, Remus. I never have been," Sirius said, his voice shaking.

"I have known and loved you for thirty years, Sirius Black. Yeah, we've been through some hard times but I've never stopped loving you! You're a part of me. My other half. I don't know who I would be without you!" Remus said.

"Some day you'll figure it out. You'll realise that you're too good for me," Sirius said.

"You've always said that and it's never been true. It never will be. I love you and I always will," Remus said and quickly kissed Sirius, who gladly accepted the gesture.

After he pulled away, Remus looked back at the bottle. He knew that if the bottle didn't work they'd be laughing about this later. But if the bottle did work… they should at least have a plan.

"We're going to do it, aren't we?" Sirius asked.

"Yes. But we should agree on one rule… if it does work, I mean. I think we should take it a week at a time. If at the end of a week one of us isn't happy we'll put the cork back in the bottle. I can keep track," Remus said.

"Makes sense," Sirius said, wiping at his eyes.

Remus looked out the window. It was a nice day, about as nice a summer day as he could expect.

"It's a nice day. I wouldn't mind spending a year or two on a day like today," Remus said.

"I'd miss the rain."

Remus shrugged.

"So we put the cork back in the bottle and wait for a rainy day. Then we take a few years of rain. Maybe a decade or two of snow. Or maybe it doesn't even work that way…"

Sirius laughed.

"Look at us. Talking like it's really real. I can't believe I almost believe it myself," Sirius said, then got up and walked over to the bottle.

Remus joined him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. He looked over at the clock and took note of the time. It was 11:57 a.m. on a Thursday.

"We're really going to do this," Sirius said, placing his hands on the bottle.

"It seems we are," Remus said.

"Bottoms up," Sirius and removed the cork with a pop.

For a moment they stood there in silence. Remus looked around.

"I'm not sure what time stopping looks like," Remus said.

"But that's not what it's supposed to do… it doesn't stop time… it gives you time," Sirius said.

"If the story is true nothing happens for those around us… they don't detect anything funny going on," Remus said.

Remus looked back at the clock. It had just turned 11:59 a.m.

"The clock is still moving," Remus said.

"Well, and we're still breathing air for that matter. Time doesn't freeze… we just get more of it," Sirius said.

"Shall we go say hello to the neighbours?" Remus asked.

"Yes. Let's," Sirius said.

Sirius pulled on his boots and met Remus at the door. They both took deep breaths then went out the front door. Remus could definitely hear signs of life. There were children playing and a dog barking somewhere.

They both shared a look then walked down the path away from their home to walk around the corner to their American neighbours' home. They were from Florida, if he recalled correctly. Remus knocked and was surprised how quickly the older man answered, almost like he was just waiting by the door.

"Well, hello there! What can I do you for?" the man asked.

"Sugar," Sirius sputtered out.

"Oh, you need some sugar? Darlene, can you get the fellas next door some sugar," the man called out.

"The nice boys from next door?" the woman, Darlene called back.

Remus was amused by still being called a boy at forty-five but decided he would take it.

"Yeah," the man replied.

"Tell them I'll be there in one second, Rick," Darlene shouted.

"She'll be here in one second," Rick repeated pointlessly.

Remus grinned at Sirius who was probably fighting a strong internal battle not to point out that they had both heard her. A minute or two later, Darlene was at the door with a bowl of sugar covered in plastic wrap.

"Here you go, boys," Darlene said as she handed the bowl over to Sirius.

Remus wasn't sure why she had brought it in a bowl but he decided that wasn't important since they didn't really need the sugar anyway.

"Cheers," Remus said.

"So what are your plans for today?" Sirius asked suddenly.

"Oh, we don't have none," Rick said.

"Oh, no. No plans," Darlene said with a big smile.

"Ah. Well, have a nice day, then," Sirius replied.

Remus and Sirius walked back home, Remus carrying the bowl of sugar that neither of them needed.

"Well, that was odd," Remus said as he set the bowl of sugar next to the bottle of time.

"Indeed. No one doesn't have some sort of a plan. Even doing nothing is a plan. Maybe they are going to lay about watching the telly. Have tea. Read a book. But you saw their faces. There was nothing else there," Sirius said.

"Yes. It was like they really had no… driving force. It was sort of eerie," Remus said.

"So we think the bottle worked?" Sirius asked.

"Maybe. We need to be certain. I'll call someone and ask them how their day is going," Remus said.

"OK. Me too," Sirius said and they both grabbed their mobiles.

A few minutes later they both hung up looking equally perplexed.

"Harry said there was nothing going on. Nothing at all. So I asked him how the baby was doing and he said the baby wasn't doing anything. He's a baby. Babies always find something to do," Sirius said.

"Lily says that she and James aren't doing anything either and they've no plans," Remus said.

Remus looked at the clock. It now said 12:47 p.m. Nearly an hour had passed since they opened the bottle. Remus gazed at the bottle with confusion.

"How could one bottle be strong enough to stop time everywhere?" Remus said.

"Maybe it's just an illusion," Sirius said.

"Perhaps," Remus said and went over and laid a head on Sirius's shoulder.

"We appear to have some free time on our hands. What do you want to do?" Sirius asked.

Remus chuckled.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. I want to go get in bed, the both of us I mean, and just talk. It seems like we're always finding excuses to stay busy these days, especially with work. Now we have no excuses," Remus said.

Sirius grabbed one of Remus's hands and kissed the top of it. Remus pulled away and said, "Coming?"

"There's no place I would rather be right now."

And so they spent the next week around the house, just talking to each other. They told stories and reminisced about the good old days. They did continue to check everyday and see if the world was still only moving for them. Day after day, no one had any plans or motivations as if their stories had simply been put on hold.

At the end of the first week they reconvened at the bottle, to decide if they were happy to continue things.

"I want to go at least one more week but I think we should experiment a little. We should leave the house. What if we just started walking and kept going. Nothing will harm us or bother us. Do you suppose if we got on a bus or a train and gave it money, they would take us somewhere?" Sirius said.

"I suppose they might," Remus said.

Remus scratched his first mark in a notebook he pulled out for tracking the weeks and they gathered up supplies in backpacks and did exactly as Sirius suggested. A week later they had found themselves in Scotland, drinking whisky at a pub in Inverness. Everywhere they went they always found the same thing. People still existed and functioned in normal roles but no one was guided by anything. It was as if they were merely part of the environment.

Week after week of the two of them traveling about the British Isles passed with Remus quickly adding numerous marks in his notebook.

It never mattered how much money they tried to spend because as far as they could tell, nothing ever left their accounts and they could keep removing as much cash as they wanted.

They did finally make their way back home, wanting some rest.

"So we should do Europe next, obviously," Sirius said.

"Backpack through Europe? It's like we're teenagers again," Remus said.

After a few weeks at home they set off for the continent, with more of a plan this time than the previous time. At some point Remus stopped counting the weeks other than to make the marks. It became so easy to let time slip away. In a way, it was like they were falling in love all over again. It was like they were young and carefree again, free of adult responsibilities, only this time there were no consequences for their actions. No one in the entire world cared what they did except for themselves.

Mark after mark was made, pages of the notebook being filled as they moved on from Europe and traveled the world. Remus supposed it could sometimes be disconcerting to see a world that was sort of stuck in place but he preferred to see it as the world generously letting the two of them have some time alone.

By the time they came home again Remus didn't even want to guess at how much time had passed. He had a rough idea but it just wasn't important. At the end of every week neither of them wanted to give it up. A day finally came in which Remus ran out of space in the notebook to add the marks so he simply got another one out and then another and then another…

And then one day, something strange happened. It was 4:05 PM and Remus's mobile rang.

"Who was it?" Sirius asked with trepidation after Remus hung up.

"Work. They wanted to know why I didn't come in today," Remus said, putting his mobile down on the counter.

"So it's over," Sirius said, looking dejected.

"Looks like. Must've ran out a couple of days ago," Remus said, glancing at the bottle with sadness.

"We didn't even notice," Sirius said.

"Lost in our own little world. Time passes quickly when you're having fun," Remus said.

"Or not at all," Sirius countered.

"Fair."

Sirius walked over to the bottle, placing the cork back in the top.

"How long was that? How much time passed?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know. I'm afraid to count. I tried once but that was ages ago. So long ago…," Remus said.

Life carried on, everything strangely slipping back to normal with ease. It was several months before Remus gathered up the courage to investigate how many marks he had placed in the many notebooks. With the count complete he sat down on the sofa next to Sirius who was watching Countdown on the telly.

"Five-hundred and forty-eight," Remus stated flatly.

"Huh?" Sirius said, probably assuming Remus was referring to the show.

"Years. That's how long we froze time," Remus said.

Sirius stared at Remus in confusion.

"It can't be. It just… can't be," Sirius said.

"The marks don't lie. I double-checked," Remus said, sliding next to Sirius with an arm around his shoulders.

"Bloody hell," Sirius said, his mouth agape.

"Indeed. I knew it had been a long time. I thought maybe a hundred years, I don't know," Remus said.

"But think of everything we did. We saw the world several times over. We must've seen every bit of Great Britain inside and out a hundred times alone. I read so many books," Sirius said.

"I'm just trying to count the number of times we stayed at that one hostel in Berlin. Always the same people there, none of them ever aging or changing," Remus said.

"Including that one git who was always giving you the looks," Sirius said.

"Jealous after all this time?" Remus said.

"Oh, no. But still… says a lot doesn't it. After all that time we spent together… if I could do it all over… I would drop everything and spend another five-hundred years with you. It was a very nice day," Sirius said.

Remus turned to Sirius and gave him a sweet kiss.

"I would spend a thousand with you. But still… I've been thinking. I think we should toss the bottle back in the sea," Remus said.

Sirius looked at Remus in shock.

"You want to just toss it away? You never want to use it again?"

"Think about it, Sirius. Even if we save it for another forty years, the time it would have on it would be nothing compared to what we experienced. But if we throw it in the sea… it can get lost again. And then someday, another pair of lovers will find it and have themselves a very nice day."

Sirius sighed but nodded.

"You're right, of course. You're always right."

That very weekend they walked down to the coast, then in silence and solemnity, they tossed the bottle as far as they could. They both cried and held each other as they watched the bottle get carried away by the waves.

As the years passed Remus would often wonder if the bottle had been a blessing or a curse. Perhaps it had been both. But if nothing else, it taught them both to appreciate the time they had and make the most of their lives, because even eternity could slip away when you weren't paying attention.


End file.
